Nicky Jam revealed he underwent weight loss surgery.
The reggaeton singer revealed to People that he had undergone gastric bypass surgery six months ago after struggling with his weight for years.
“The reality is I’ve been fighting with my weight my whole life because this is an industry where you have to be in shape, you have to do movies, you have to do videos,” said the 42-year-old. “I mean, you’re always going to be nervous before you do surgery, so I was nervous. I ain’t going to lie. But it’s something that I really wanted.”
The decision to pursue the bariatric procedure was inspired by a friend’s successful results and led Jam to lose 110 pounds and counting.
“I wake up and I’m the same guy, but I don’t wake up and think about food right away,” said Jam about overhauling his diet. “I used to wake up and I just wanted to eat. Now I take my time and I eat whenever I want. I feel better. I feel happy. I feel healthy. Two days ago, I did blood work, and I came out better than ever.”
However, Jam insists that his surgery wasn’t a simple fix as he described a prescribed liquid diet following his procedure, saying, “I was just drinking liquids and stuff like that, and I was going crazy. I ain’t going to lie. First few days I cried.”
Jam continued, “You have to prepare yourself mentally for what's coming, and it's not easy. People say this is the easy way — they're wrong,” Jam says of choosing bypass. “Here, you're obligated to not eat. You can't even drink liquids and eat at the same time. Because your stomach is so small, you'll get full [so quickly]. So it's like you got to learn how to eat, wait 20 minutes, and then you drink some liquid.”
Another part of the Dominican-Puerto Rican star’s new lifestyle includes playing basketball daily and being mindful of his alcohol intake. Jam, who admits he struggled with an addiction to Percocet, blames the drug for making him gain weight.
“Percs don’t make you skinny. It’s totally the opposite. I was fat and a drug addiict. So I was taking the pills, and I was so big,” he recalled.
He added, “I stopped drugs. I cleaned myself. I lost weight in those years, I lost weight, and people looked at me like, ‘Yo, you look brand new. You look like a different human being, And the way you love yourself and take care of yourself makes it easier for the world to love you and back you up. It's just the way it is.”
